The Vicomte De Bragelonne eBook

The Comtesse de Soissons interrupted the narrator:
“Confess, count, you are inventing.”

“Madame, I am repeating like a parrot all the
stories related to me by different Englishmen.
To my shame I am compelled to say, I am as exact
as a copy.”

“Charles II. would have died before he could
have endured all that.”

Louis XIV. raised his intelligent and proud head.
“Madame,” said he, in a grave tone, still
partaking something of the timid child, “monsieur
le cardinal will tell you that during my minority
the affairs of France were in jeopardy, — and
that if I had been older, and obliged to take sword
in hand, it would sometimes have been for the purpose
of procuring the evening meal.”

“Thanks to God,” said the cardinal, who
spoke for the first time, “your majesty exaggerates,
and your supper has always been ready with that of
your servants.”

The king colored.

“Oh!” cried Philip, inconsiderately, from
his place, and without ceasing to admire himself,
— “I recollect once, at Melun, the supper
was laid for nobody, and that the king ate two-thirds
of a slice of bread, and abandoned to me the other
third.”

The whole assembly, seeing Mazarin smile, began to
laugh. Courtiers flatter kings with the remembrance
of past distresses, as with the hopes of future good
fortune.

“It is not to be denied that the crown of France
has always remained firm upon the heads of its kings,”
Anne of Austria hastened to say, “and that it
has fallen off of that of the king of England; and
when by chance that crown oscillated a little, —
for there are throne-quakes as well as earthquakes,
— every time, I say, that rebellion threatened
it, a good victory restored tranquillity.”

“With a few gems added to the crown,”
said Mazarin.

The Comte de Guiche was silent: the king composed
his countenance, and Mazarin exchanged looks with
Anne of Austria, as if to thank her for her intervention.

“It is of no consequence,” said Philip,
smoothing his hair; “my cousin Charles is not
handsome, but he is very brave, and fought like a
landsknecht; and if he continues to fight thus, no
doubt he will finish by gaining a battle, like Rocroi
— "

“He has no soldiers,” interrupted the
Chevalier de Lorraine.

“The king of Holland, his ally, will give him
some. I would willingly have given him some
if I had been king of France.”

Louis XIV. blushed excessively. Mazarin affected
to be more attentive to his game than ever.

“By this time,” resumed the Comte de Guiche,
“the fortune of this unhappy prince is decided.
If he has been deceived by Monk, he is ruined.
Imprisonment, perhaps death, will finish what exiles,
battles, and privations have commenced.”

Mazarin’s brow became clouded.

“It is certain,” said Louis XIV., “that
his majesty Charles II., has quitted the Hague?”

“Quite certain, your majesty,” replied
the young man; “my father has received a letter
containing all the details; it is even known that the
king has landed at Dover; some fishermen saw him entering
the port; the rest is still a mystery.”